CORPORATE COMEDY AND GROUP COHESION IN SMALL PETROLEUM SUPPLY BUSINESSES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

While comedy is known to benefit workplace relationships and performance, there is limited research on how aggressive, self-defeating, self-enhancing and affiliative humour influence team dynamics and group cohesion within organisations. The study examined the relationship between corporate comedy and group cohesion, with corporate comedy represented by these four humour styles. The study surveyed 218 employees from two PAMTECH Group offices in Owerri and Port Harcourt using census sampling. A well-structured questionnaire was used to assess employees' views on different comedic styles and team dynamics. The questionnaire's reliability was confirmed with Cronbach's Alpha scores ranging from 0.71 to 0.87. Data were analysed using multiple regression. The study revealed that all four humour styles significantly contribute to group cohesion: The positive coefficient (0.240) indicatedthat an increase in aggressive comedy leads to higher group cohesion, The positive coefficient (0.320) indicates that increased use of self-defeating comedy results in higher group cohesion, The positive coefficient (0.240) suggests that an increase in self-enhancing comedy leads to higher group cohesion and the positive coefficient (0.320) indicated that increased use of affiliation comedy leads to higher group cohesion. Based on the critical analysis of the objectives of the investigation, the study concludedthat all four varieties of comedy positively affect group cohesion, showing that humour is crucial to workplace cohesion. The study recommended that organisations should promote self-defeating and self-enhancing humour, limit aggressive humour and use affiliative comedy to strengthen team relationships and workplace cohesion while integrating humour into organisational development and team-building to enhance communication, collaboration, and overall success.